Four employees seek GOP nod for Shelby County sheriff

Common ideas make for 'friendly competition'

(Editor's note: This story has been corrected since its original publication.)

All four of the Shelby County Sheriff candidates competing for the Republican nomination are current employees — two of them on Sheriff Mark Luttrell's command staff — but the current occupant of the office says he won't make any endorsement before the primary.

That doesn't mean that Bill Oldham (Luttrell's deputy chief), James Coleman (director of the jail), Bobby Simmons (35-year veteran and an alderman in Bartlett) and Dale Lane (division commander in Homeland Security) aren't jockeying to position themselves as the obvious heir apparent.

It is a sign of how candidates believe voters perceive Luttrell's two terms; when he won the job in 2002, the department had been so discredited under the management of former sheriff A.C. Gilless that Luttrell's outsider credentials as a career warden with no law-enforcement experience worked to his advantage.

No candidate is working that insider angle harder than Oldham, who retired from the Memphis Police Department in 1999 after a full career, including eight months as its interim director. After winning election, Luttrell selected Oldham to run the department's law-enforcement division.

"First and foremost is we want to continue exactly the progress we made over the last eight years," Oldham said. "We fought crime, portrayed an image of professionalism and earned the public trust."

Simmons, who said he has been captain or commander of every division, ran in 2002 and finished third with 7,408 votes, or 15 percent of the vote.

"My combination of law-enforcement experience, executive planning and public service make me uniquely qualified," Simmons wrote in an e-mail. "There is no substitute for first-hand experience and I have actually been at the scene, prepared for the actions of the job."

Lane, a 21-year veteran, likes to point to the 1,700-plus "fans" on his campaign's Facebook page as evidence of the momentum he's building. Many of his posts end with reference to a Bible verse, and last weekend he thanked volunteers for their hard work and said he would be taking Sunday off because it is "God's day and we will give him praise, honor and glory."

Lane also talks about surrounding himself with those who "have the same moral foundation and high standards," while also stressing the need for diversity and a department that "mirrors the community."

While the predominant issue in 2002 was the situation with the jail — a federal judge had put it under court order — candidates in both parties say that voters are most interested in hearing how they intend to reduce violent crime.

Each candidate brings various ideas, all of them a mix of early interventions with juveniles, tougher sentencing for chronic offenders, ways to decrease recidivism rates and incorporate smarter diversions for nonviolent and mentally ill inmates.

Lane emphasizes the need to collaborate with other law-enforcement agencies in and out of Shelby County: "Violent crime impedes economic development and prevents young people from getting quality education and impedes quality of life because of the fear level it creates."

In a questionnaire with Coalition for a Better Memphis, Coleman emphasized his role in turning the jail around and wrote: "We must be tough on crime and empathetic to the cause of crime."

The shared ideas have led to a collegial, positive campaign -- so far. Early voting for the May 4 primary begins April 14.

"It's some good men on both sides," said Lane's campaign manager, Wiley Goodman. "It's just a friendly competition."